t midnight;
then we went and set down in my stateroom and locked the doors and
looked in the piece of paper to see if the di'monds was all right, then
laid it on the lower berth right in full sight; and there we set, and
set, and by-and-by it got to be dreadful hard to keep awake. At last Bud
Dixon he dropped off. As soon as he was snoring a good regular gait that
was likely to last, and had his chin on his breast and looked permanent,
Hal Clayton nodded towards the di'monds and then towards the outside
door, and I understood. I reached and got the paper, and then we stood
up and waited perfectly still; Bud never stirred; I turned the key of
the outside door very soft and slow, then turned the knob the same way,
and we went tiptoeing out onto the guard, and shut the door very soft
and gentle.

"There warn't nobody stirring anywhere, and the boat was slipping along,
swift and steady, through the big water in the smoky moonlight. We never
said a word, but went straight up onto the hurricane-deck and plumb back
aft, and set down on the end of the sky-light. Both of us knowed what
that meant, without having to explain to one another. Bud Dixon would
wake up and miss the swag, and would come straight for us, for he ain't
afeard of anything or anybody, that man ain't. He would come, and we
would heave him overboard, or get killed trying. It made me shiver,
because I ain't as brave as some people, but if I showed the white
feather--well, I knowed better than do that. I kind of hoped the boat
would land somers, and we could skip ashore and not have to run the risk
of this row, I was so scared of Bud Dixon, but she was an upper-river
tub and there warn't no real chance of that.

"Well, the time strung along and along, and that fellow never come!
Why, it strung along till dawn begun to break, and still he never come.
'Thunder,' I says, 'what do you make out of this?--ain't it suspicious?'
'Land!' Hal says, 'do you reckon he's playing us?--open the paper!' I
done it, and by gracious there warn't anything in it but a couple of
little pieces of loaf-sugar! THAT'S the reason he could set there and
snooze all night so comfortable. Smart? Well, I reckon! He had had them
two papers all fixed and ready, and he had put one of them in place of
t'other right under our noses.

"We felt pretty cheap. But the thing to do, straight off, was to make
a plan; and we done it. We would do up the paper again, just as it was,
and slip in, very elab